


The Family Bond

by ConceptaDecency



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Cardassian Culture, Episode: s02e22 The Wire, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:46:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28720704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConceptaDecency/pseuds/ConceptaDecency
Summary: When Elim's doctor 'friend' shows up on their doorstep on the Arawath Colony, Mila reflects on the limited choices available to her exiled son.
Relationships: Julian Bashir/Elim Garak, Mila Garak/Enabran Tain
Comments: 37
Kudos: 110





	The Family Bond

Mila had just put her feet up when the door chime sounded. Typical. 

“Are you expecting anyone, Enabran?” Perhaps it was one of the neighbours, Poggoth maybe, wanting to borrow a piece of woodworking equipment. In that case the old meatball could answer the door himself and Mila could remain as she was, in her pyjamas and robe, curled up on the sofa under the soft Lakarian wool throw.

“Nobody in particular,” said Enabran, and flicked the wallscreen from the nightly news report to the front door camera feed. A green-brown eye filled the screen momentarily, then pulled back to reveal first a smooth, unridged face and then a lanky, slim body in a Starfleet uniform that did it no favours. Especially the padded shoulders.

A human. Here on Arawath. He looked so very alien. And yet, familiar.

“Enabran, is that…”

“Elim’s friend the doctor, yes.”

Enabran did not seem at all surprised. Of course, Enabran rarely seemed surprised. Even when he was surprised, which was not often. He was long practiced in hiding his true feelings. But Mila was long practiced in reading Enabran Tain, and it was clear to her that he had, in fact, been expecting Doctor Bashir.

“What in the hallowed resting place of the ancestors is he doing here?” It couldn’t mean anything good, that was for certain. She levered herself up from where she’d been resting comfortably on Enabran’s fleshy arm so that she could really scrutinise the screen. The young man looked exactly as she’d seen him many times before in the intelligence reports. Impossibly slim, with an open, honest, face that seemed, at least by Cardassian standards, nearly babyish in its innocence. But he was more harrowed. Lines of fatigue creased his young skin, and his normally cheerful (as per the intelligence holos) countenance was plastered over with a worried frown. On the screen, he bounced impatiently on his feet as he glanced around nervously. 

“Why don’t you let him in and we’ll ask him?” Tain replied. 

Mila rolled her eyes, but she got to her feet. It had been a while since she’d truly played the role of housekeeper (aside from all the actual keeping of the house, of course; Enabran might be spending their ‘retirement’ painting and making wooden furniture, but someone had to cook and clean. At least the Arawath cottage was only three bedrooms, not the warren of chambers and corridors that made up Old Hall). It had always been clear to anyone who was paying attention that she and Enabran were married in all but name. It was practically a cliché, really. The powerful man who never married was nearly always partnered with his housekeeper, or if not her, his manservant. The Cardassian urge to form a pair bond was too strong for anyone to truly remain single for very long. But the complex social rules of Cardassian society meant this was never acknowledged on Cardassia Prime. The outer colonies, however, were far more casual. Half the couples on their street were retired generals, politicians, and the like, living alone with their one ‘loyal servant’. Most scarcely bothered to keep up the pretense. The relative freedom was why people like them retired in places like this. 

That, and so that their children and grandchildren could visit without too much scrutiny.

“Tell me, Enabran,” she said, in her no-nonsense voice, as she slipped off her robe. Did she need to change completely? Was Elim’s relationship with this man such that he might be able to identify Cardassian nightwear? 

“Elim’s been having a few problems with his implant.” Enabran hoisted his bulk off the sofa and smoothed down his cardigan. “Do you think I should put on a jacket, or will this do?”

Mila could feel the blood draining from her face. “Why did you keep this from me?” It would have had to have been deliberate. Mila didn’t get all of her information about her son through Enabran. She had her own sources. It was always wise to operate this way if possible. But he was Enabran Tain, and his reach was longer. Of course he could suppress information if he wanted to. Even from her. At least for a little while. 

“I didn’t want to worry you, Mila. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. This Bashir is a gifted surgeon and I would have made sure he had the necessary information if he hadn’t come on his own.”

Mila kept her mouth shut. This wasn’t the moment. The topic of their son’s exile had been rehashed so many times between them that it often felt like there was nothing more to say, but that never lasted for long. They did agree on the broader picture; after what had happened, exile had been necessary. Exile or death, and neither of them wanted the more permanent option. It was the finer points they quibbled over. Mila thought it cruel for Elim to be so close to home that he could reach it in half a day’s journey on a slow transport if only he were allowed. But Enabran considered Terok Nor safer, and it prudent to keep Elim close at hand, where he could be useful. If it had been up to Mila, Elim would have been sent to an exile colony. The Goloslan system, perhaps, or New Lakat. Several days from Cardassia even at top speed, and deadly boring, and yes, perhaps not as safe, but at least he’d be amongst his own people. He might have found someone there and begun a new life as a farmer. Maybe even started a family of his own at this point. And he’d have had Cardassian doctors to see to his medical needs. Not had to suffer needlessly while his friends (and thank the guls he had at least one friend) scrambled around for answers.

And. Speaking of. This human ‘friend’. What was he to Elim? Surely more than a friend. She’d feared that the first moment she’d learned of his existence. If he were Cardassian, he’d certainly be Elim’s type. Classically beautiful, like a Hebitian statue, intelligent, by all accounts kind, and athletic. Clearly brave, though perhaps enough so to be foolhardy. Still, that was youth for you. And her son had always had a thing for doctors. To his detriment; he wouldn’t be in this situation if not for the whole Kelas Parmak affair. But what could a human possibly be to a Cardassian, other than a fling? They didn’t form the same kinds of bonds. No Cardassian would even consider such a thing, unless desperate. It was exactly what she’d told Enabran would happen if Elim were forced to live away from his own kind for too long. 

And yet. Was it better that Elim be utterly alone than that he forge a bond, of sorts, with a non-Cardassian? Perhaps a passionate young man who cared enough about him to travel deep into Cardassian space and confront Enabran Tain in his home was exactly what Elim needed now. Even if his heart would be broken when the human had his head turned by another. Perhaps by then Elim would be able to come home, and that would balance the pain a little. 

Or perhaps Mila was lying to herself, to make herself feel better about something she couldn’t control.

The chime sounded again. On the wallscreen, Bashir checked the house address against his PADD. 

“I’d better get that, then,” Mila said, resigned. It didn’t really matter, did it, if this Bashir saw her in her pyjamas. “Before he thinks he’s got the wrong house and leaves. Will you see him in the study or the drawing room?” Slipping her housekeeper’s apron over her head, she went to meet Elim’s Doctor Bashir.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> The 'Kelas Parmak affair' referenced in this work is, in my headcanon, the events of apolesen's [Love in a Time of Oppression](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16580465/chapters/38854886%E2%80%9D%20rel=), my absolute favourite pre-canon Garak fic of all time, and also just one of my top fics of all time. I highly recommend it. 
> 
> A few people have mentioned how much they like the relationship between Tain and Mila as well as how Mila calls Tain ‘Meatball’. If that’s your jam, you might like my pre-canon teenage-Elim-and-his-parents fic, [Like You Would Do](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21200885%E2%80%9C%20rel=). (It’s also my favourite of my own work.)
> 
> I love your comments and kudos! Please leave them!


End file.
